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After years of negotiations to settle Inuit land claims, the Canadian government agreed in 1992 to transfer an area in the Northwest Territories called Nunavut (‘Our Land’) to the native peoples living in the territories. It was to extend over an area of 2.2 million km2 (850,000 sq. miles), with 350,000 km2 (135,000 sq. miles) being directly transferred as their property. For the negation of further land claims, they were given a compensation of $580 million. The deal was confirmed by a referendum of the native peoples in the Northwest Territories, with 8,334 in favour and 7,020 against the proposal. Nunavut received internal autonomy in 1999, though because of the difficulty of attracting business investment this far north, it continued to rely on federal funding. In 2006, talks began on transferring provincial powers to Nunavut, which would finally resolve all land claims in the area.http://www.gov.nu.caThe official website of the Nunavut government.